Great Connecticut Cajun and Zydeco Festival

For the second weekend in a row, eastern Connecticut became an extension of South Louisiana, with the Great CT Cajun Zydeco festival at the Sunrise Resort in Moodus, CT,. kind of a throwback to the fifties or sixties, reminiscent of the movie Dirty Dancing. After camping out at festivals the previous 2 weekends, we decided to make this one a day trip, attending Saturday only. The hot and humid weather lent an authentic atmosphere to the event, which featured some bands that we don't get to see so often in these parts, like Brian Jack and the Zydeco Gamblers - WOW! Those guys can sure get a groove going.... His sound reminded me of a brighter, bouncier version of Beau Jocque, and also had some nice vocal harmonies. The day's entertainment started with local favorites River City Slim and the Zydeco Hogs, joined by a guest rubboard player from NY named Professor Jim, the Zydeco Messenger. They were followed by the Magnolia Sisters, then Brian Jack , and the afternoon ended up with the always fun and energetic Pine Leaf Boys, with fiddler Cedric Watson taking a turn on drums. Most of the action at this festival takes place under a huge tent, which was attended by a few hundred faithful fans of the music and dancing we have all grown to love. We spent the day visiting with friends and working up a sweat on the dance floor, but never made it to the swimming pool since (for the 3rd weekend in a row) thunderstorms threatened at the end of the afternoon set, when we left to go home... though the fest continued til around 1 am and then again on Sunday. Other bands who played there but we did not get to see were Dora and the Zydeco Bad Boys, another rarity in this area, and Corey Ledet. Missed the Basin Brothers, who were not there this year for the first time in I don't know how long. All in all, an enjoyable time at laid back and relaxed festival with a down-home feel. Kudos to the organizers for bringing us some of these not too familiar zydeco bands.

Blast from the Bayou at Strawberry Park

With temperatures in the 90's and high humidity, last weekend began our first heatwave of the season. So it was as much to escape the heat and enjoy the wooded setting and resort-like amenities offered at Strawberry Park that we headed to the 12th annual Blast from the Bayou. The four day festival began on Thursday and featured an extensive lineup of well known Cajun and Zydeco acts, plus the Radiators to add a little variety. We arrived on Saturday around 2 pm, and purchased a 2-day ticket w/ an overnight option. Because Strawberry Park is a full service campground/ RV Park, they don' t require festival goers to purchase a full weekend pass to camp just one night. We set up our chairs in the shady amphitheater, just as Chris Ardoin was finishing up his set. One thing about Strawberry Park is they have continued to make improvements over the years, adding 2 dance floors - one right in front of the stage, and one off to side surrounded by trees, giving the effect of being in a large treehouse.

The festival has 2 stages, one in the wooded amphitheater, and another under a tent adjacent to the main pavilion which houses a snack bar and rec center, with lots of picnic tables from which to watch the music, so you don't have to carry your chair over (although you may). Beyond the rec center is a pool complex with 3 swimming pools and 2 hot tubs, so this is where we headed between bands, which alternate from one stage to the next. There is usually only a 15-20 minute break , but you can hear the music from the pool. I just kept my bathing suit on with a sarong or sun-dress on for the whole festival. The water was freezing cold (the air temperature had been in the 50's during the week, only warming up on Saturday) but provided a much needed refresher once I finally got in. However the sounds of Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys coming from rec center lured me back out. It is hard to see the band unless you are dancing on the large wooden dance floor under the tent, which was no problem.

The lineup I printed out a couple weeks in advance had the Radiators slated for two 1-hour sets, one at noon (!), and one at 6 pm following a scheduled one-hour dinner break (when they traditionally allow evening only attendees to come in for a lower price). But they wisely shifted around the schedule to allow the Rads one 2-hour set from 5-7 with no dinner break. From the pool area, we could hear them starting up, so we made our way back over to the amphitheater.

All these years of following New Orleans music, I have not seen the Radiators as much as you might think, only about a half-dozen times or so, including last weekend's Crawfish Fest, last year's midweek party during Jazzfest and a couple times at Rhythm and Roots and maybe one or two other festivals. In other words, it has always been at an event where there is a lot going on, or lots of people to talk to. This set at Strawberry Park was the first time I was able to focus on the music and get pretty close. I had thought they would be like a fish out of water at this festival, which was attended by more zydeco dancers than Fish Heads. But the dancers, who never stopped, seemed to enjoy the different style and kept grooving throughout the set. Looking around at the crowd, and the Radiators themselves, the song "Never Let your Fire Go Out" was an apt anthem.

The Pine Leaf Boys played after them under the Rec Center tent, with guest accordionist Jesse Lege on a few songs. Then, everyone who must have been hanging out at their campsites or at the pool emerged and packed the dance floor for the last set of the night, by the ever popular Geno Delafose and French Rockin' Boogie.

Sunday brunch at the Strawberry Grill snack bar featured a "Cajun Omelet" filled with shrimp & sausage in a tomato based creole sauce. Well, it was Italian sausage but isn't that the Cajun way? Use what's available! It was pretty good, especially accompanied by BYO Bloody Mary's. Then right back on the dance floor for Jesse Lege & Bayou Brew, followed by Corey Ledet in the amphitheater. It was still really hot, so more pool time was in order before watching
Beausoleil, who played a beautiful set featuring more waltzes and instrumental numbers, (including one of my old favorites, Dimanche Apres Midi) instead of non stop raucous dance music. Not to say they there wasn't dancing, just at a more relaxed pace, and most dancers tried to stay in the shade.

Chris Ardoin ended up the day with his style of R&B tinged zydeco, ending just as a perfectly timed thunder storm rolled in, bringing relief to the heat.

More pictures from Strawberry Park

Crawfish Fest in NJ

What comes to mind when you think of New Jersey? Jersey Turnpike, Jersey Shore, Jersey Girls, Springsteen, the Sopranos, Atlantic City, blueberry farms? Last weekend it was more like jambalaya, crawfish and gumbo. Add in some accordions and rubboards, hot Texas blues, a band of trombones playing funk, jazz and rock, including a Led Zeppelin cover, and you have Michael Arnone’s 19^th Annual Crawfish Fest, where we experienced all that and more. The 3-day festival in Northwest New Jersey made us feel like we were right back in Southwest Louisiana.

We arrived at the Sussex County fairgrounds a little after 2 pm and set up our camp, which consists of a conversion van , a folding table and chairs, a tent to store gear, and something for shade. We relaxed and visited with friends for awhile, then made our way over into the festival grounds, where I’d heard they were serving free jambalaya for campers only - one of the many perks offered to entice people to camp for the weekend rather than just go for a day. Expecting a small sample, I could barely finish the mountain of delicious jambalaya from Daddy Arnone’s giant pot, which resembled an industrial size washing machine tub. And as if that wasn’t enough, we were served a boatload of spicy boiled crawfish, too, which we devoured while listening to Donna the Buffalo. A shot of ice cold Jaeger purchased from the local firemen was a nice touch, helping to cool down our throats after all that spice. Afterwards we grooved to a nice long set by the Radiators. The Friday night music was for campers only, and it took place inside a pavilion with bleacher seats on the side, and a cement floor. That is one unique feature of the festival site - all the permanent structures that are part of the fairgrounds, which is used for equine and agricultural shows and an annual county fair, provide shelter in case of heat or bad weather. And the bathrooms are completely civilized! Instead of the usual porta-potties and makeshift showers (if your lucky) they have real indoor plumbing, plenty of stalls with an attendant (!) handing out paper towels and sundries, and free hot showers. It makes a huge difference to the "camping" experience, which is really not so much like camping as it is like an extended tailgate party.

We returned to our spot in Threadhead Village, home to dozens of friends we’ve met at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage fest over the years, to find a pile of mints for our pillows, which had been left for us by Melissa the Crawfish Camping Fairy. We are used to camping at fests and have our own set up, so we chose not to join in on the food commune that some of the other folks had organized. Plus, I wanted to try more of the food from the vendors, over the weekend. We appreciated the campfire though and it was nice to be near everyone, and relatively close to the music too. I did bring my accordion and was looking for people to jam with, but didn’t really find any. That is the one thing I found lacking, compared to the other music/camping festivals I go to. Well, my hubby and my girlfriend did their best to accompany me with a rubboard and a wooden frog, but I would have loved to see more musicians in the campgrounds. If any of my jamming buddies from Rhythm and Roots or Grey Fox are reading this, consider checking out this festival next year.

Saturday the sun woke us up at 5 am (because we didn’t put up the big tarp) but clouds rolled in and after breakfast, it started raining. Actually, according to the weather forecasts, we were expecting a washout that day and wore our yellow slickers into the festival. Of course, because of that, it stopped raining by the time we arrived at the main stage, and Roddie Romero and the Hub City All Stars took the stage, playing a lively set of Cajun and swamp pop music to dance to. Soon it was too hot to wear the rain gear, and it eventually turned out to be a beautiful day! We saw Little Freddy King, Leroy Thomas, Tab Benoit. Lunch was a scrumptious fried oyster po’boy and some turkey/quail/andouille gumbo. We watched a little of piano player Mitch Woods but after waking up so early we were tired and retreated back to camp for a nap during Donna the Buffalo, who we see quite often. We could hear them pretty well from the van though, and they sounded really good. I was eagerly anticipating the Funky Meters set, and it was great to see Art Neville, George Porter, and Russell Batiste. They started off slow and seemed to take a while to get going. In my opinion, it wasn’t the most inspired set I’ve heard from those guys, but I liked when they played Hey Pocky Way and some other New Orleans classics.

The set ended abruptly right on time, with a severe weather scare – possible tornadoes and hail! We rushed back to button things up at camp then sat in the van to wait it out, but luckily it wasn’t too bad, and didn't last long. After dinner we were treated to an awesome set by Tab Benoit’s band with guests Mitch Woods, Leroy Thomas, and Ruben the Rubboard player, who was going absolutely nuts on that thing. That set was definitely the high point of Saturday, maybe the whole weekend. There weren't too many people at Leroy's set in the dance hall earlier that afternoon, so it was so great to see the reception he and Ruben got during the night set. We get to see Leroy quite often, but it’s usually at a dance where that kind of showmanship is not fully appreciated. The crowd at the Crawfish Fest nighttime set – again, only available to campers – lapped it right up. Again it rained a bit, but the performance was under the pavilion, so it did not matter. By the time it finished around 10 pm the rain had ended too and we returned to Threadhead Village to hang with our friends.

Sunday morning started with the Lee Boys, who were great – they play that Robert Randolph kind of Sacred Steel. Then Rosie Ledet decided not to show up for some unknown reason, so Leroy Thomas was tapped to fill in. Alright! Another smoking zydeco set by Leroy and the Zydeco Roadrunners, especially that wildman Ruben on the rubboard. They had a chance to shine in front of a bigger audience than they would have had in the dance tent, and there were lots more people there Sunday because the weather was perfect. Dancers were not relegated to a side area - there were lots of people dancing, right in front of the stage, just like in Louisiana.

I loved hearing Bonerama on Sunday - I thought they were even better than last year. Railroad Earth sounded OK but I wasn't in the mood for them right after Bonerama. We had to get going anyway, though, so we said our goodbyes during RRE and hit the road. I probably would have stayed to hear some of Allen Toussaint if he had been on right after Bonerama. At this festival, I like hearing the New Orleans style music more. Even Donna the Buffalo, who I really like, I could have done without, since we see them at so many other festivals around here. At Crawfish Fest, I would love to see more brass bands, jazz bands, the kind of stuff we don't get so much of up here... of course that's why I go to New Orleans Jazzfest, which is the ultimate.... but this Crawfish fest to me is sort of like an extension of Jazzfest, in a more relaxed setting. In fact, I think what I like most about it is the relaxed atmosphere – no one is jockeying for position, or hogging space. Rather than fighting for a spot up front, many people stake their claim in the back, where they set up shade canopies. People go up front to see the band up close and dance in front of the stage, then retreat to the back when they want to chill out and talk.

There were times it felt just like being at jazzfest, looking around and seeing so many smiling familiar faces, with the bonus of actually having time to socialize at the fest and in the camp, without all the running around.

Many thanks to Michael, Chuck, Melissa, and the rest of the Crawfish Krewe for making this festival such a fun and relaxing event. We hope to return next year for the 20th annual.

Here is a link to the rest of my pictures from Crawfish Fest 2008 http://good-times.webshots.com/album/563673932qRCtHk

Additional photos by Swag, proprieter of swagland.com, a great resource for all things Fest.

http://swag.shutterfly.com/action/pictures?ap=&a=67b0de21b34674eee48f&pg=1